3 ms·

Mostly well argued (in favor of Oracle acquiring MySQL), with a couple of weak spots. For one, overlooking Apple as a potential acquirer; it is unlikely, but th

by ableal 17y ago

Mostly well argued (in favor of Oracle acquiring MySQL), with a couple of weak spots. For one, overlooking Apple as a potential acquirer; it is unlikely, but they do have the cash, and already own CUPS (Unix printing) and invest heavily in Webkit/KHTML (the KDE HTML engine - not sure what's the exact status there nowadays). The "never even worked for a profitable commercial enterprise" (thus cannot know how it would affect the market) bit actually weakens the piece. Yeah, right, it's a prerequisite and no one credible does that kind of thing, from analyst to critic to regulator ...

KirkWylie 17y ago
I intentionally left Apple out, actually. While Apple definitely has done work in some back-end technologies, a $1Bn acquisition for something so clearly outside their current strategy (which is far more consumer and mobile focused than server focused) wouldn't make much sense. They invest in Webkit and CUPS because they feel they're necessary (in the case of CUPS so that printing actually works) or strategic (in the case of Webkit); MySQL? Not so much. My point on RMS was that he's actively and completely rejected the commercial world in every form. A stronger argument is that he's been talking about there being MULTIPLE paths to financial riches using the GPL, but then whining because if OraSun stops selling commercially licensed versions of MySQL, nobody else can. While I agree with a stance that F/OSS is superior for consumers, RMS has been completely useless at figuring out how to make successful business models, and should be ignored. Quite frankly, why RMS didn't speak up when Sun acquired MySQL, but is now, is just another one of the mysteries about what in the world actually goes on in his mind.
- freetard 17y ago
  RMS is not again commercial software http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/selling.html http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/selling.html

by ableal 17y ago

KirkWylie 17y ago

I intentionally left Apple out, actually. While Apple definitely has done work in some back-end technologies, a $1Bn acquisition for something so clearly outside their current strategy (which is far more consumer and mobile focused than server focused) wouldn't make much sense. They invest in Webkit and CUPS because they feel they're necessary (in the case of CUPS so that printing actually works) or strategic (in the case of Webkit); MySQL? Not so much. My point on RMS was that he's actively and completely rejected the commercial world in every form. A stronger argument is that he's been talking about there being MULTIPLE paths to financial riches using the GPL, but then whining because if OraSun stops selling commercially licensed versions of MySQL, nobody else can. While I agree with a stance that F/OSS is superior for consumers, RMS has been completely useless at figuring out how to make successful business models, and should be ignored. Quite frankly, why RMS didn't speak up when Sun acquired MySQL, but is now, is just another one of the mysteries about what in the world actually goes on in his mind.

freetard 17y ago
RMS is not again commercial software http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/selling.html http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/selling.html